1. Kingdom Fungi

2. Characteristics

3. The Characteristics of Fungi
Fungi are NOT plants
Nonphotosynthetic
Eukaryotes
Nonmotile
Most are saprobes (live on dead organisms)

4. The Characteristics of Fungi
Absorptive heterotrophs (digest food first & then absorb it into their bodies)
Release digestive enzymes to break down organic material or their host
Store food energy as glycogen (plants store
their food energy as starch)
BREAD MOLD

5. The Characteristics of Fungi
Important decomposers & recyclers of nutrients in the environment
Most are multicellular, except unicellular yeast
Lack true roots, stems or leaves
MULTICELLULAR MUSHROOM
UNICELLULAR YEAST

6. The Characteristics of Fungi
Cell walls are made of chitin (versus plant cell walls being made of cellulose)
Body is called the Thallus
Grow as microscopic tubes or filaments called hyphae

7. The Characteristics of Fungi
Some fungi are internal or external parasites
A few fungi act like predators & capture prey like roundworms
Predaceous Fungi feeding on a Nematode (roundworm)

8. The Characteristics of Fungi
Some are edible, while others are poisonous
EDIBLE
POISONOUS

9. The Characteristics of Fungi
Produce both sexual and asexual spores
Classified by their sexual reproductive structures
Spores come in various shapes

10. The Characteristics of Fungi
Grow best in warm, moist environments
Mycology is the study of fungi
Mycologists study fungi
A fungicide is a chemical used to kill fungi
Fungicide kills leaf fungus

11. The Characteristics of Fungi
Fungi include puffballs, yeasts, mushrooms, toadstools, rusts, smuts, ringworm, and molds
The antibiotic penicillin is made by the Penicillium mold
Penicillium mold
Puffball

12. Vegetative Structures
NON-REPRODUCTIVE

13. Hyphae Tubular shape ONE continuous cell
Filled with cytoplasm & nuclei
Multinucleate
Hard cell wall of chitin also in insect exoskeletons

14. Hyphae
Stolons – horizontal hyphae that connect groups of hyphae to each other
Rhizoids – rootlike parts of hyphae that anchor the fungus
STOLON
RHIZOIDS

15. Hyphal growth Hyphae grow from their tips
Mycelium is an extensive, feeding web of hyphae
Mycelia are the ecologically active bodies of fungi
This wall is rigid
Only the tip wall is plastic and stretches

16. ASEXUAL & SEXUAL SPORES
REPRODUCTIVE STRUCTURES
ASEXUAL & SEXUAL SPORES

17. REPRODUCTION Most fungi reproduce Asexually and Sexually by spores
ASEXUAL reproduction is most common method & produces genetically identical organisms
Fungi reproduce SEXUALLY when conditions are poor & nutrients scarce

18. Spores Spores are an adaptation to life on land
Ensure that the species will disperse to new locations
Each spore contains a reproductive cell that forms a new organism
Nonmotile
Dispersed by wind

19. Sexual Reproduction

20. Types of Fruiting Bodies: Basidia Sporangia Ascus
ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION
Types of Fruiting Bodies:
Basidia
Sporangia
Ascus
Sporangia
Basidia

21. Both are composed of hyphae
Fruiting Bodies
Both are composed of hyphae
mycelium

22. Evolution of Fungi

23. Cladogram
Which of the following is most closely related to a mushroom (fungus)?
WHY?
Recent DNA-based studies show that fungi are more similar to animals than to plants

24. Molecular studies indicate that animals, not plants, are the closest relatives of fungi.
Both Animals and Fungi are related most closely to a group of Protists known as the choanoflagellates (collar flagellates)
Kingdom began in ocean during Precambrian (Late Proterozoic era)
More than 100,000 species of fungi are known and mycologists estimate that there are actually about 1.5 million species worldwide.
Evolution of the Fungi

25. It’s All About the Spores!
Fungi are classified by their REPRODUCTIVE STRUCTURES and SPORES
The reproductive structures are:
BASIDIA - BASIDIOMYCOTA
SPORANGIA - ZYGOSPORANGIA
ASCUS - ASCOMYCOTA

26. Classification & Phylogeny
asci
basidia
The phyla of fungi are determined by
1. motility of spores
2. nature of sexual stage
Fungi moved onto land with the plants in the Early Paleozoic
Much of the evolution of fungi was in conjunction with the evolution of plants and plant parts
For example, when roots evolved, fungi were there and helped (mycorrhizas)
When wood evolved, fungi evolved to take advantage of it
Other evolutionary changes related to animals
zygosporangia
Classification & Phylogeny
motile spores

27. Major Groups of Fungi

28. Major Groups of Fungi Basidiomycota – Club Fungi
Zygomycota – Bread Molds
Chytridiomycota – Chytrids
AM Fungi - Mycorrhizas
Ascomycota – Sac Fungi
Lichens – Symbiosis (algae & Fungi)

29. ZYGOmycota

30. Basidiomycota

31. Basidiomycota Called Club fungi Includes: Mushrooms Toadstools
Bracket & Shelf fungi
Puffballs
Stinkhorns
Rusts and smuts
Asexual spores conidia
Ecologically important on wood as decomposers and parasites
Half the mushrooms form mycorrhizas

32. USES For Basidiomycota
Some are used as food (mushrooms)
Others damage crops (rusts & smuts)
Portobello Mushrooms
Soybean Rust
Corn Smut

33. Ascomycota

34. Characteristics Called Sac fungi
Includes Cup fungi, morels, truffles, yeasts, and mildew
May be plant parasites (Dutch elm disease and Chestnut blight)
Mycologists have described over 60,000 species of ascomycetes, or sac fungi.
Ascomycota tend to grow from spore to spore in one year and relate well to living plant tissues
There is diverse form in the growth and fruiting structures – yeasts to morels, many intermediate (and small)
Asexual reproduction by conidia (externally produced, not in sporangia)
Half of the Ascomycota form lichens (evolved 8 or more times in different orders) but not all lichens are Ascomycotes

35. Uses of Ascomycetes
Truffles and morels are good examples of edible ascomycetes
Penicillium mold makes the antibiotic penicillin.
Some ascomycetes also gives flavor to certain cheeses.
Saccharomyces cerevesiae (yeast) is used to make bread rise and to ferment beer & wine.

36. CHYTRIDIOMYCOTA

37. MYCORRHIZA

38. Lichens

39. Lichens Mutualism between: Fungus (structure)
Algae or cyanobacteria (provides food)
Thallus is a plant-like body that doesn’t have roots, stems or leaves
Thallus doesn’t look like either partner
Dual nature of thalli was not fully understood until early 1900’s
Fungus gives the name to the lichen (by agreement)
Fungus usually, but not always, an Ascomycote (in 8+ independent orders)
Algae green. If bluegreen bacteria present, lichens fix nitrogen (turn atmospheric nitrogen into amino acid nitrogen in proteins)

40. Lichen structure
The nature of lichen symbiosis is may also be described as mutual exploitation instead of mutual benefit.
Lichens live in environments where neither fungi nor algae could live alone.
While the fungi do not grow alone in the wild, some (but not all) lichen algae occur as free-living organisms.
If cultured separately, the fungi do not produce lichen compounds and the algae do not “leak” carbohydrate from their cells.
In some lichens, the fungus invades algal cells with haustoria and kills some of them, but not as fast as the algae replenish its numbers by reproduction.
Lobaria oregana prefers old-growth conifer canopies in forests with clean air.

41. Lichens as biomonitors
Thalli act like sponges
Some species more sensitive than others to pollutants
Which species are present can indicate air quality
Most resistant species can also be analyzed for pollutants
Analysis for sulfur and heavy metals in resistant species shows levels relative to levels in the environment